Facebook's next big thing is augmented reality, says Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook's AR technology can fill a room full of
virtual skittles.Getty

Facebook's next big thing is augmented reality.

At the company's annual developer conference on Tuesday, CEO Mark
Zuckerberg took the wraps off his plans to "mix the physical and
digital in whole new ways" using AR, the nascent and potentially
revolutionary technology being worked on by Apple,
Microsoft, Snap, Magic Leap, and others.

Starting Tuesday, Facebook will give developers the ability to
build their own AR effects for the Facebook app's camera. The
effects will be relatively basic initially and function similarly
to Snapchat's lenses, which can place puppy dog ears or a flower
crown on your face.

But eventually, Facebook plans to use AR through its app's
camera to show things like menu information at a
restaurant, virtual steam rising from a real coffee cup, and
virtual, 3D art that cascades from a blank wall.

Zuckerberg called AR the next major computing platform, a
sentiment that has been echoed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and other
tech executives. Facebook has so far invested over $2 billion
into virtual reality through its 2014 acquisition of Oculus, but
Zuckerberg said that AR represents a larger opportunity to
reinvent computing.

He said the end-goal for AR is lightweight glasses that
display virtual objects in the real world, like the technology
being worked on by Magic Leap and Apple.

Zuckerberg demoed Nike as an outside partner with an AR
effect in the Facebook app's camera.Getty

Facebook's move to open up its AR capabilities to other apps and
services is another direct attack on Snapchat, which is credited
with
pioneering AR camera effects but has yet to open its
technology to developers. Zuckerberg also teased an upcoming
games platform for AR that will let developers create experiences
like a virtual chess board that can hover over a physical table.

“Even if we were a little slow to add cameras to our apps, I’m
confident that we’re going to be the ones to push this augmented
reality platform forward," said Zuckerberg.